Eye-on-Retail Daily Tipsheet Archives

“Wal-Mart Anxious to Combat Amazon’s Lead in Web Vendors” by Renee Dudley at Bloomberg. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is “anxious” to take on Amazon.com Inc.’s Marketplace, where independent merchants sell millions of products. According to minutes from a Feb. 1 officers meeting led by U.S. Chief Executive Officer Bill Simon, Wal-Mart considers Marketplace Amazon’s “number one weapon…Four years after starting its own version of Marketplace — called Marketplace — Wal-Mart has signed up six outside merchants, including one that sells sports memorabilia. Amazon has 2 million that sell everything from clothing to mobile phone cases.” Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-04/wal-mart-anxious-to-combat-amazon-s-lead-in-web-vendors.html

“First Lady Michelle Obama Visits A Walmart In Springfield, MO” by Chase Snyder at KTTS. “Michelle Obama: “As Leslie mentioned, in just two years, Walmart saved customers $2.3 billion on fresh fruits and vegetables across the nation. And I’m going to repeat these accomplishments because they’re worth saying over and over again, because Walmart is still making money. You reduced the amount of sugar in products across the store by 10 percent. You’ve cut price premiums for healthy items, making the healthier item more affordable or just as affordable as the alternative. You have opened 86 new stores — one of the most important calls, most important work to eliminating food deserts, because you’ve opened these stores, including this one, in underserved communities. And now you’ve launched your “Great for You” seal that I got to see firsthand — that helps customers immediately spot healthy items on the shelf.” Read and see complete speech: http://www.ktts.com/news/194088161.html

“Albertsons Gets Executive Ducks in Two Rows” by Kimerly Eisham at Path to Purchase. “The new company, which will encompass the existing Albertsons LLC operation and consist of two segments:

Albertsons LLC, to operate all of the roughly 600 Albertsons stores. The unit will add a Northwest division covering Northern Idaho, Oregon and Washington to complement the four divisions already in place at the separate Albertsons chains, according to a media release.

New Albertsons Inc. (NAI), which will manage the 375 stores in the Acme, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s/Star Market chains along with all pharmacy operations (including Albertsons).

“Buffett Still Buying Stocks, Sees ‘Good Value, isn’t too worried about Sequester'” at CNBC this morning. “Buffett isn’t too worried that the automatic government spending cuts known as the sequester will slow down the U.S. economy too much. Buffett said that while the sequester will reduce the government’s stimulus of the economy by cutting back on the deficit the remaining spending is still providing the economy a lot of “juice.” Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100515743

“What Amazon dilemma? It’s helping (yes, that’s right) smaller retailers” by Teresa Novellino at Upstart Business Journal. “But what you may not know are some of the figures that Tom Taylor, vice president of Fulfillment by Amazon and the Amazon Webstore, shared with Upstart Business Journal at eTail West, which wrapped up in Palm Springs Thursday: Amazon has more than 2 million third-party sellers worldwide, and they represent 39 percent of the units sold on Amazon in the fourth quarter of 2012. Sellers who are selling via Amazon, as a group, sold 40 percent more units year over year during the 2012 holiday season versus 2011.” Read more: http://upstart.bizjournals.com/companies/rebel-brands/2013/03/01/amazon-and-its-third-party-retailers.html

“Obama to nominate Walmart’s Burwell as White House budget chief – sources” at Reuters. “President Barack Obama plans to nominate Walmart Foundation head Sylvia Mathews Burwell to head the White House Office of Management and Budget on Monday, sources said on Sunday. Burwell is a veteran of Bill Clinton’s White House and has helped steer philanthropic efforts while at Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas. The sources, who asked to remain unidentified, said plans were for Burwell to be nominated on Monday.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/03/usa-obama-budget-idUSL1N0BV23I20130303

“Amazon Patents Gravity-Based Links to Pull You In” by Roberto Baldwin at Wired. “Amazon has patented a system that pulls the pointer toward a link or button, just the thing to help you click links — and buy products associated with those links. If you’ve ever hit the wrong button or link on a touchscreen, you know the frustration of tapping repeatedly and still missing the link or button. Amazon’s Gravity-Based Link Assist patent fixes that by creating a gravitational field of sorts around linkable objects that pull the pointer toward tiny links and buttons.” Read more: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/03/amazon-patents-gravity-based-links/

“Coalition of Immokalee Workers launching march to Publix headquarters” at Naples News. “The 200-mile trek to Central Florida, called “March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food,” is promoted by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and ends up at the corporate headquarters for Publix supermarkets…“We are going to take our case directly to the consumers through our presence in the streets, through nightly meetings with supporters in churches, schools and community halls along the way, and through our voices in the media,” Coalition representative Oscar Otzoy said in a statement. “We will not rest until Publix realizes that the 21st century supermarket cannot afford to turn its back on human rights.” Read more: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/mar/03/coalition-immokalee-workers-launching-march-publix/